Opinion
February 18, 1999
Appeal from the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board.
In June 1996, claimant left her employment as a program coordinator and instructor for a bilingual program at a college in order to relocate to Michigan to be with her husband, who had started a new job there on January 10, 1996. Claimant's husband had been offered the job in December 1995 but claimant elected to stay and teach a course for the college's spring semester, which began on January 20, 1996, before joining him. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board found that although claimant intended at the time of her husband's move to resign from her employment and join him, she was disqualified from receiving benefits because she delayed the relocation for noncompelling reasons.
We affirm. A brief delay in resigning from one's employment in order to join a relocating spouse might not disqualify a claimant from receiving benefits, provided that the resignation was intended at the time the spouse relocated (see, Matter of Di Napoli [Commissioner of Labor], 249 A.D.2d 665, 666) and as long as the length of the delay "was reasonable under the circumstances" (Matter of Stuber [Shanken Communications — Commissioner of Labor], 253 A.D.2d 972). Here, although claimant indicated that she decided to stay and teach the spring semester out of a sense of professionalism and responsibility, she was not under a contractual obligation to do so and the employer did not ask her to remain in New York to teach the course. Thus, there is substantial evidence in the record to support the Board's conclusion that claimant's delay was unreasonable and noncompelling under the circumstances of this case ( see, Matter of Parduski [Commissioner of Labor], 253 A.D.2d 937).
Yesawich Jr., J. P., Peters, Spain, Carpinello and Graffeo, JJ., concur.
Ordered that the decision is affirmed, without costs.